The Missing Piece — French-Japanese drama + lecture on Japanese custody law

Tel Aviv Cinematheque screens A Missing Part (Hebrew: החלק החסר; French original: Une part manquante) — a French / Belgian / Japanese drama by Guillaume Senez, starring Romain Duris, Judith Chemla and Mei Cirne-Masuki — on Saturday 18 July 2026 at 17:00, with a pre-screening lecture on the realities of divorced parents in Japan. Brought to Israel by distributor Kolnoa Hadash / New Cinema (@kolnoahadash).

The film

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Une part manquante (France / Belgium / Japan, 2024, 98 min, French & Japanese with Hebrew and English subtitles).

Jay (Romain Duris), a French taxi driver living in Tokyo, has spent his days and nights driving the city’s streets for nine years — not just to earn a living. Since separating from his Japanese wife, he has been searching for his daughter Lily, whom he was never able to gain custody of. The sense of loss and loneliness follows him on every ride, until he finally decides to give up and return to France.

Then, moments before his departure, a mysterious young woman gets into his cab: Lily. Jay’s world collapses when he realises the woman in front of him is his daughter — but she does not recognise him. Torn between the urge to reveal the truth and the wish to hold on to the fleeting moments he has with her, he begins an emotional journey that puts his past, his love and his capacity to forgive on trial.

Pre-screening lecture — Galia Dor

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Before the film, Galia Dor delivers a lecture titled “When tradition, society and law meet” — on the unsettling reality faced by divorced parents in Japan, where post-divorce custody arrangements diverge sharply from the assumptions audiences typically bring from Israel or Europe. The lecture provides the legal-cultural backdrop that gives the film its emotional weight.

Practical info

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• When: Saturday 18 July 2026, 17:00 (lecture first, then screening)
• Where: Tel Aviv Cinematheque, Shprintzak 2, Tel Aviv-Yafo
• Language: Hebrew (lecture); film in French and Japanese with Hebrew and English subtitles
• Tickets: book through the Tel Aviv Cinematheque box office or the distributor’s Instagram bio link
• Original announcement: Kolnoa Hadash on Instagram

Related on the site

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• Aki-no Japanese Film Festival — the annual Japanese film festival at the Jerusalem Cinematheque, for readers who want more Japanese cinema on the calendar.
• Japan Month at Dizengoff Center — month-long programme of Japanese film and cultural events in Tel Aviv every August.